Montreal meltdown: numbers for the morning after

January 20, 2018 8:56 am

Friday night, the Washington Capitals fell to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2, getting all of our weekends off to a poor start. Thanks a lot, guys.

The Caps and Habs both totaled 26 shots, but the Habs out-attempted the Caps five-on-five 51 to 40.

Christian Djoos was the shining light amidst a pretty sloppy, slow, bad game from pretty much the rest of his teammates. His shot-attempt percentage (67.7 percent) was tops on the team, his scoring-chance-for percentage (68.4 percent) was tops among Caps defensemen, and his two shots on net were more than anyone but John Carlson (8) and Matt Niskanen (3).
Andre Burakovsky stepped back into the lineup and looked like one of the only Caps ready for puck drop. His shot-attempt percentage (62.9 percent) was only bested by Djoos, and his linemate for the first half of the game, Jay Beagle. He also hit a couple posts and just generally looked like the fastest player out there. Good start, need goals.
Carlson’s power play goal in the second period marked the 499th assist in Alex Ovechkin‘s career. Surely the moment he hits the big 500 won’t be as special as his 500th goal celebration, but it will still be cool to see. Go get it Ovi.
Take a guess who was the worst Caps defensemen when it comes to shot-attempt percentage (19 percent), scoring-chance-for percentage (15.4 percent), and high-danger-chance for percentage (0 percent). Another game, another Brooks Orpik five-on-five trouncing.
Not a good game to pull many numbers from. Very slow throughout, but Philipp Grubauer was a highlight. He stopped 23 shots and continues to look strong backing up Braden Holtby.
Zero. The number of games Dustin Brown was suspended for this awful cross-check.